Steampunk Tarot deck is the first deck I’ve received as a gift. It is a treasure for that reason, as I treasure the loved ones who gave it to me.
I’ve kept it for special readings, but lately have been doing the daily meditation / card-a-day exercise to get better acquainted with the deck. It is interesting. No disrespect to Ms. Moore, but it seems like I get a different message from the cards than she does, which is precisely the power and beauty of tarot. It speaks to all of us wherever we are at the time, and like the Oracle in The Matrix, tells us what we most need to hear. This is one of those cards and meanings that have followed me through time and from deck to deck to deck, whatever the little (or not so little) white (or not so white) book that comes with the deck might say.
The deck is great, but in this case I miss the fish. There are lots of decks and lots of page of cups cards without a fish in the artwork. But c’mon….a fish in a cup. There has to be comedy gold in there somewhere. This page still makes me smile with that under-caffinated, not a morning person, mopey, snarky, deadpan look on her face. If this card could talk, I imagine she would sound like Lydia in Beetlejuice.
I know, I know…the fish is the mysteries of the deep and the page of cups is associated with learning intuition, emerging psychic ability, imagination, sensitivity, kindness….
But who says any of that stuff has to be pedantic, serious and deep all of the time? Who says you have stare at your fish with a straight face? Every deck, whether it has a fish or not, has that same undercurrent. Behind all of the psychic learning and spiritual growth is a smile and a reminder to find the humor in everything, even intuition and spirituality.
So cheers! Here is to the fish in our lives and the coffee in our morning goblets. Enjoy!
In “The Niggles: What’s In a Name?” we looked at how names communicate outward. Our “brand” as they say is a shorthand way to communicate who we are. It can be authentic. It can be a disguise. But it, our name, is something to consider.
“Shakespeare’s Roses” looks at how names…words…communicate inwardly. We respond differently to different words. They have an impact on our inner world. Would we feel the same about roses if they were actually named goobers or something? Maybe the thing would change the word, maybe the word would change our inner perception of the thing. Either way, we are back to the notion that words have power. Power to shape our perceptions of the world and the world’s perception of us.
Names are labels. How does that make you feel?
Those words alone carry connotations and implications that impact us. You are named. That gives you autonomy. If you can be named, that means you are seen, accepted & loved (as in a christening) or made to own your actions (as in naming a suspect). Both of these are empowering things, granting identity and autonomy.
Labels are, on the physical level, practical things. They communicate important things, so you don’t put salt in your coffee, or take the wrong amount of medicine. When applied to people, however, they have no use and may cause harm. Humans are multifaceted, complex, shifting, growing, feeling…so many things that are far beyond the grasp of any one word or label. Labels lessen. Labels condense and summarize. Labeling others is the essence of bigotry. Labeling ourselves makes us less than who we really are.
For people, names are better than labels. Pick a name, any name. Remember Rufus Xavier Sarsparilla from Schoolhouse Rock? That’s a fun name. Rufus was a lot of stuff. If you labeled him “old guy” that gives us a limited view of who he is. If he labels himself “old guy” then he constricts the energy and potential in his life compared to thinking of himself as adventurer, kangaroo fan, friend or brother.
The names and labels we give ourselves is the overlap between the outward way we communicate to others with names in the “branding” sense and the inner perceptions other names and labels elicit within us. The names and labels we choose for ourselves are like a magic spell of sorts for our inner psychology. Did you quit something or did you choose something new? Are you a religion or are you a compassionate person? Are you a disease or are you someone fabulous who has some extra things to deal with?
In some Native American traditions, names change as people move through life and change. (Waugman, E.P. 2011, Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/whats-in-name/201107/names-and-identity-the-native-american-naming-tradition) I’ve read in other sources that this new name is self-chosen to reflect accomplishments, and major life changes, and to embrace this new self – identity. I can’t remember or find those other sources at the moment. In Dune, Frank Herbert shows a bit of the same. The Fremen give Paul a tribal name (he is seen, accepted, official, even loved, like we see in christenings and other baby naming ceremonies) but Paul also chooses a public-facing, outside the tribe name for himself. He chooses one that reflects his spiritual purpose, his destiny in the story.
In a way, the Fremen names reflect reality. We have our given names, our tribal, legal, on-the-official-paperwork names, we have nicknames within our circle of friends and family, and we have the ever shifting internal labels we grab and claim.
Take care the names you give yourself. Your inner label, your mental identity, your name that you give yourself is the magic spell for who you aspire to be and who you allow yourself to become.
I totally agree with Theresa here. There is no denying the unique beauty of our solar system and the dance it does. It is the essence of our point of view on the cosmos. But it is just that, a relative point of view but not absolute reality. How the sun and moon align with other stars from the singular perspective of planet Earth is breathtaking, beguiling, and our portal to larger understanding to be sure. But these alignments have little meaning to other parts of the universe. The Mars rovers gave a very different view of…and energy environment from…tonight’s “super blood wolf moon.” It’s going to be gorgeous for those able to view it, no doubt about that. Celebrate it, enjoy it, soak up its energy, yes. Still, don’t forget that there is a larger Cosmos than the sun, the Earth, and the Moon. You are as much a part of that larger Cosmos as you are part of Earthly beauty and the Earthly perspective. The dance nearby is magical, but you can make your own music any time you like. The dance hall of the Cosmos is big enough for any and all of us to dance free.
Image copyright Ronda Snow 2019 Used with permission
“What is in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”
William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
“What I told you was true, from a certain point of view” – Obi Wan Kenobi
Obi Wan nailed it. Sorry Bill.
Names, labels, adjectives, the power of words; all of those things have niggled at me off and on over the years. The niggling about names hasn’t stopped since we talked about it the other day in the “What is in a Name” post. That was a first step away from Shakespeare’s literalness about flowers. Let’s take it one step more.
Shakespeare was right, of course, in the most literal sense. You could name that particular fragrant flower a “rose” or a “gagglystank” or anything else, and the literal flower would still have the same chemicals causing the same fragrance, the same petals, the same stems, the same thorns and all the same physical attributes.
But, like business and website names, any name has more to it than just literal, physical descriptions. Names, like all of language, is about communication. If I say “rose” and you speak English, you know exactly what I mean. Not just a flower, but a particular type of flower with a particular set of physical attributes. You can probably imagine the scent, the petals, the stems, everything about them. If I say “gagglystank” to you, chances are you will have no idea what it means much less have a physical description come to mind. Gagglystank is a word that tells you a little about my feeling about the scent of roses, but is definitely not the NAME of anything. There is power in a name. Communication happens when things have a name. Communication conquers time and space. That is why “branding”….naming….matters. It is outward communication. A name is immediate, instant communication of what a thing is. TaoCraft Tarot is hint about what I do and my way of doing it.
Shakespeare’s roses (in addition to being a great idea for a band name) is about the literal, unchanging being of objects no matter what words are projected onto them. Names are more than the literal objects. Names are also about every intangible thing the tangible object symbolizes. Outward communication is one step away from the actual things. One more step takes us inward. Consider the psychology and emotional response to a rose.
If we called roses gagglystanks instead, would they really smell as sweet? What emotions and connotations would a different name elicit? I’m not fond of rose scent or anything too cloying or floral. Gagglystank is a perfectly good word to tell you how I feel about the way those specific flowers smell. But it can’t be the name of the thing, because it doesn’t communicate to you. It isn’t a meaning our language has agreed to use. It doesn’t capture the visual beauty. It doesn’t capture the emotional response to the flower generated by generations of love-symbolism our culture has connected to that flower. When we see or hear the name “rose” all at once we understand the literal thing, the things the symbolizes, and likely experience a positive emotional feeling to go along with it all.
First you have a thing. Then you have a name-word for the thing. Then you have all the abstract things that go with the literal thing, all wound up in an emotional response to the whole word-name-symbolism package. Names means a lot.
This second-step away from Shakespeare’s roses is the place where Tarot cards get their power. The cards have powerful images. The cards use powerful words. They prompt us to take that next step beyond literal things and outward communication in order to get right to the realm of symbolism, emotional connotations and, most importantly, inner response. The Tower comes to mind. Set aside the lighting and other images, lets talk about just the Tower alone for a minute. First you have a literal picture of a literal tall thing. You name it Tower, and without the picture, a Tarot reader can convey instant understanding of both the thing and the image. If I say “tower” then you know I’m talking about a big tall skinny outdoor object or part of a building. Then you bring in all the connotations of a tower: tallness, a higher perspective, potential isolation. The inner FEELING of the reader guides the seeker to the right connotation and symbolism, even when reader and seeker are the same person. The process of inward symbolic communication…the second step away from Shakespeare’s roses…is where a Tarot reading really happens. This kind of word and name driven inward communication is the same no matter if you are reading for yourself or someone else, nearby or at a distance.
The thing, the name of the thing, along with the symbolism, connotations, and emotions that the name carries are all part of intuitive communication. Names speak both outwardly and inwardly.
There is power attached to a name. That power can attach to any name for any thing in any language, but not every name carries that level of potency. Roses by other names may not smell as sweet except in the literal sense. Roses by their true name have a complex fragrance…from a certain point of view.
We all see the sky together, even when we stand alone in the night
Ah, intuition. Bundle of contradictions, that.
On one hand, I just got finished saying I’m done preaching to the masses. On the other hand, here I am posting a daily meditation for the masses.
On one hand this blog is direct, personal, for YOU. On the other hand, this is given in the hope of helping someone, somewhere. I have no idea who. I have no idea how, where or when. But here it is.
The thing that keeps it all from being contradictory to the point of hypocrisy is the convincing part of it. When I say no more preaching to the masses, I mean no more tryint to convince the general public how helpful Tarot is or try to entice them to Tarot with jump-on-the-bandwagon stuff like doing yearly predictions. Instead of some kind of infomercial, this is a cozy little workshop. I hope this helps….helps YOU. If it spreads the word about Tarot or puts my contact in front of eyeballs, great. But that’s not the core intent. It was creeping too much toward that kind of feeling before. As Scott Cunningham said, “the feeling is the power”. So it is here. It FEELS different, more powerful, to write these posts like I’m talking one to one with a client, not publishing for a wider audience. I hope you can feel the difference too. This card is for you.
The Hermit wants our attention tonight. He turned up in a client reading earlier today, and when I did a random draw for the blog tonight, here he is again.
This kind of repetition happens sometimes. This time I used an entirely different deck than I used for the reading earlier. Sometimes, when I am reading for a Tarot party, a particular card will keep turning up time and again, despite shuffling, let the client choose the cards, all sorts of randomizing. It is an experience in synchronicity, that’s for sure. If a card keeps turning up like that, it is meaningful and worth paying attention.
Some say that means the card is trying to get a message through to the reader. Sometimes that is true. Other times, it just doesn’t resonate personally, so I chalk it up to the vibe of the group. I let it ride as symbolic of the evening as a whole. It is endlessly fascinating when that happens. When you combine the shades of meaning, times the layout positions raised to the power of all the various meanings for the card itself…even with the same card, each person get an intensely personal message.
That seems to be what is happening with the hermit tonight. It is indeed a message for me – reminding me of that party phenomena. Reminding me that it is possible to be direct and personal … one to one as a hermit would teach…even in a blog like this. There is one person on the other end of this post. Even if there are a lot of one persons in a lot of places reading at various times….it is still just one other person. The message may not be for your eyes only, but if you are still here reading this, then this blog is, indeed for your eyes.
By the same token, I’ve subscribed to some newsletters that take the chummy one to one thing too far and computer insert a first name just a bit much. I don’t want TaoCraft to sound like Dale Carnegie seminar threw up in a Diagon Alley tarot shop. So if I start to annoy you with this personalized tone, for the love of Plato, please email me with the feedback. The addy is over there in the right column –>
Not just for the New Year holiday, the “seasons of the year” layout is always available. It is also popular for birthdays & anniversaries. The reading begins with the season we are in when you order, and continues through the seasons to come in to consider the entire year ahead. Available now in the shop
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
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